Asterios Polyp

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It's a testimony to Mazzucchelli's skills that by the end of Polyp's odyssey, the arrogant academic has been rendered a tragic and sympathetic figure deserving of the tale's (possibly) happy ending. With “Asterios Polyp,” Mazzucchelli has put paid to that charge: It’s funny, it’s warm and it’s beautiful.

Asterios Polyp is a primer for both the fervent possibilities and the rich rewards of the graphic novel. Ma così non avviene, e Hana prende il largo una volta che comprende che la corazza-carapace di Asterios non è penetrabile, e neppure scalfibile. Asterios settles into small-town life, building a treehouse with his boss, discussing spirituality with his boss's wife, going to see a local band in a local bar. A simpler concept in theory than in execution, but Asterios Polyp shows exactly why it's worth thinking about.The narrative comes back to earth for a profoundly satisfying climax, but you'll want to keep turning pages - all the way back to the beginning, for another read. But what I loved the most is that this graphic novel has a living and breathing soul, a true soul that you can see much better in the second part.

Intellectual stuff from Hegel to Orpheus is referenced in this extremely well composed graphic novel.Ma ciò che davvero libera questo graphic novel dall’occludente severità del formalismo è il modo canzonatorio e dirompente con cui Mazzecchelli affronta la questione dei sistemi e delle astrazioni (di ogni tipo). Given all this, I still don't think it is justification enough for such an ending, because it really does make the whole book too obviously about ideas and ideas alone.

Which makes sense, as duality is the main theme of the book, of which their relationship is only one particular example.Known chiefly for his collaborations - with Frank Miller on seminal Batman and Daredevil stories, and with Paul Karasik on an adaptation of Paul Auster's novel, City of Glass - he began publishing his own stories in 1991 in his anthology magazine, Rubber Blanket. There's a beautifully conceived, mostly wordless six-page, multi-panel scene of Asterios sadly remembering everything he loves about Hana that will send sensitive types scrambling for tissues. Mazzucchelli’s style – effortless and so versatile that you can’t imagine Asterios in any other medium—is sweeping in every sense.

I couldn't recommend it more highly, though; this and Fun Home are the most astonishing graphic novels--and among the most astonishing books of any kind--I've ever come across. These graphic experiments set themselves off distinctly from the depiction of the small-town life Asterios has settled into as an assistant to a car mechanic who rents him a room.Als zijn appartement in New York in vlammen opgaat, staat zijn leven op zijn kop en volgen we hem op de weg die hij dan inslaat. En dan de stof tot nadenken, want iedere ontmoeting in het boek leidt tot nieuwe standpunten die naast die van Asterios Polyp kunnen worden gezet.